After the first month of school, I was looking forward to Thanksgiving, so I could return home, and hopefully relax for a few days. Most people in school have come to realise that the week after Thanksgiving is professors’ favourite times to schedule midterms, requiring a large amount of studying over the holiday. I quickly realised my long weekend was not going to be particularly fun or relaxing, as I would be writing both my biochemistry and organic chemistry midterms two days after Thanksgiving. To get in a good amount of both studying and training, I was going to have to avoid many distractions at home, such as playing with my kitten, and numerous physics lectures by my dad.
Textbooks and course notes: a Thanksgiving favourite
Saturday morning I decided to test out my running legs for the first time in almost a year, by entering the “Turkey Trot” running race in the nearby city of Pembroke. The two hundred plus people who attended the race ranged from walkers to some of the best junior runners in the province, and everything in between. Fortunately the race was short (only 5km) and fairly flat, so no serious damage was done to my legs. While I didn`t come away with the grand door prize of a turkey, I was lucky enough to get a key chain.
After the race it was time for me to get back to the books and memorise an obscene amount of information about amino acids. This was mostly done by coming up with eccentric phrases for key information.
Tryptophan, an amino acid, is denoted by the letter W. It is also the compound in turkey that causes people to become drowsy.
Sunday morning I met up with some old friends and went out for a skate rollerski along some of Deep River’s freshly paved roads. After some strength and long zone 1, I was back to studying, while my kitten attempted to shred as many of my notes as possible. In the afternoon I went for a quick run along trails close to the river. One of the best parts about Deep River is the view of the river in the fall.
The town gets very pretty in the fall.
Monday was a rest day for me, combined with travelling back to Ottawa. Overall, Thanksgiving was a pretty successful holiday for both training and school.
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